LAUNDRY. What did you think I meant? LOL!
I stroll into my oldest son’s room, he tells me that morning that he has no more clean pants. I think, “what?!” I swear I just did the laundry. Well, maybe he didn’t bring down everything, you know, it was hidden under the bed, stuffed in back packs from the gym, or whatever. You know what, he has an overflowing hamper! Surely this must be his fault in some way, not my shortcoming.
Next stop, little brother’s room. Damn, his basket is just the same. Let me think about this for a minute… oh, maybe it wasn’t last Monday I did laundry, I was traveling for work and the weeks have blended together. Okay, okay, this is making more sense. So we’re just a little bit behind our once a week, unless it’s a fashion emergency, laundry cycle.
Last stop on the way to the laundry room, our room. Holy! Okay, seriously, how have I not noticed that it’s not only full, but spilling out onto the floor. Does Ricardo even have clean underwear?! Leave it to him to not complain, or just do a load to get us by without making me feel bad I’ve dropped the ball on my domestic chore (we divvy them up, I have the laundry short straw).
Sigh.
“Alright guys, let’s knock this out!” I say to Gus and Lexi (they ever so cutely tilt their heads like they are completely in tune and I just gave them the secrets to life). I sort it all out, seven loads. For heaven’s sake, why do I get myself into these predicaments?! I work from home, so doing laundry during the day isn’t a big deal, I just swap from the washer to the dryer in between calls and meetings and try to get the bulk of the folding done during lunch or right after the day ends.
Seven-ish hours later we have success, all of the piles are gone, it smells delightfully like Gain in the house, and all of the clothes are ready for everyone to put away! Yay!
Minus the two hour back and forth with the kids arguing to get them to put it away. You know, they are clever little fellows… can I just carry it to my room and not put it away? why do we put it in drawers and the closet anyway, it’s so much easier to see what I have when it’s out? I promise I’ll do it as soon as I get home from school tomorrow, will that be okay? Hey mom, you’re going up there anyway, can you just do it? NO, NO, NO, and NO! An A for effort in evading their responsibilities though! Anyway, back to the story, two hours later I am indeed upstairs with them, helping with homework, reading stories, and just some good old fashioned goofing off and guess what?
Yup, that’s right… those gloriously clean dirty laundry hampers are already half full. I swear!
Rant over.
The truth is all of us have these things that sneak up on us. Whether it’s the dishes, laundry, doing maintenance on your car, or even taking care of yourself. We all have our “dirty words.”
The point I wanted to make, and the thing I needed to remind myself, is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Not one single day did my family leave the house naked. Most likely I spent the time that I could have been cleaning and folding doing something much more enjoyable, like playing a never ending game of monopoly (watching Parker learn about money and laugh at him trying to be the banker, noticing that Simeon is beginning to strategize about the game, rather than just play along) and laugh, laugh, laugh. I probably had a long conversation on the phone with my mother, texted a couple of my girlfriends, took the dog for a walk, or whatever. And you know what? It’s ok!
I’ve also made sure to teach my boys these basic living skills since they were itty bitty, so if push came to shove, even my five year old knows how to load his clothes into the washer, swap to the dryer, wad them in a ball and call them folded, and put them in his room. They don’t want to do it, heck, I don’t want them to do it. There’s only so many years left that I get to fold their clothes, wonder what happened to make their socks so nasty, and pretend it’s the worst thing ever! One day either they will do it or their significant other.
So Ladies, don’t worry about it! I’m not saying to let your house turn into a health hazard or ignore your responsibilities entirely. I AM saying, don’t stress about it. Enjoy the stuff that wiggles it’s way in. Enjoy that you have people in your home who make dirty laundry, it’s so much better than living alone!
Karla